She rides through to Storms

FOR A SHINY COAT

A shiny coat is the sign of good health in your equine partner. Here are my top 5 basic, easy and cost effective tips and tricks to help get that extra shine.

1. Good feed - it’s important that your horse gets good nutrition in order to get a shiny coat. This doesn’t have to be expensive or complicated. Generally, horses will thrive off good quality hay alone.

2. Oil - if you’re feeding, it’s worth adding a squirting or 2 of oil into your horse’s feed. Oil is a god send and is cheap and easy to get from your local supermarket. It adds extra calories to help maintain weight in the cooler months and it also has added fat for that extra shiny coat. Its best if you an get an oil with omegas in it. Rice bran oil is the best, but it can be quite expensive in australia. I find that sunflower oil is excellent too, otherwise corn oil/vegetable oil is fine.

3. Rugging - keep your horse rugged in a breathable fabric (such as cotton or wool etc). This will keep the coat clean, flat/sleek in appearance and will eliminate any sun bleaching that happens in the hotter months (as someone who mainly owns black horses, I know how gross and yellow their coats can go in the summer if not protected!!)

4. Grooming - grooming your horse every day is so so good for them. It promotes blood circulation, it’s a massage to help work out any tension and it promotes the natural oils in your horse’s coat to come out and give your horse that added shine.

5. Coat sprays - I would avoid using show sheens from your local tack store too regularly as it can cause a greasy build up on the coat. However, it’s worth mentioning that fractionated/liquid coconut oil is non greasy and a diluted mix is ideal to spray on your horse each time you groom them.

1. Paprika: If you find that your horse has a dry, brittle, dull or sun bleached coat he might have a copper deficiency. Paprika is an excellent source of copper! My horses coat has definitely improved since introducing this to his feed and I know a few people with very dark horses who swear by this. I’ve also heard it helps with arthritis but I’m not 100% positive. A word of caution! - for those of you who regularly compete and would like to try this, make sure to stop feeding this 2 weeks before competitions as it does test positive at shows due to its capsicum content.

2. Black Oil Sunflower Seeds (BOSS): BOSS are high in fat and omega fatty acids, which like oil, adds a shine to a horses coat and condition if their diet is lacking.

when u run as fast as u can and your horse is like nyeeeerrrrr

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